Jun 14, 2011

Arena: We Have To Rally The Troops

While we wait for the plan for the redevelopment of the Nassau Coliseum site to be released, it's time to start the process of rallying the residents of Nassau County. Nick Giglia from Let There Be Light(house) made a very interesting post today regarding the obstacles and what we would potentially need to happen on August 1 for this to go through.

CH: Nick's blog is a must read. One of the main points he drives home is that this referendum is going to have to win in a landslide. I think that's something we all kind of knew intrinsically, but maybe did not want to admit before. If this vote is only a 55-45 split, it's not going to be enough for both a supermajority in legislature and for NIFA to put the go-ahead through. And that's especially true because of the low voter turnout that's sure to occur. As Nick said in the article, Nassau turnout in these types of elections is awful. The Islander fans and unions have the potential to dominate the vote, but that means there cannot be any apathy. It's the number one point that needs to be driven home. If you are available to vote on August 1, you have to do it. Get friends, family, friends of the family - everyone you can to that ballot box.

AT: Exactly. Everyone needs to go into this thinking that their vote will matter - because it will! Everyone who is voting will help. This isn't a general election for president where if you're voting in a typically blue/red state your vote means very little. This is a highly contested issue and every vote will matter, especially with a lower turnout.

CH: The problem is we don't know what this plan really consists of yet. Furthermore, when it is released, the plan needs to make sense. I'm not naive - if the plan doesn't add up and is a sure-fire loss for Nassau County, I won't be able to justify the push. What's crushing during this process is that we don't know anything, but that doesn't mean we can't prepare for the best. For this to work, we're going to have to.

AT: The sooner this plan comes out, the better. We were told mid-June. Well, it's June 14th... let's get the ball rolling.